ore than 50 civilians have been killed as fighting broke out between Sudan’s army and a paramilitary group on Saturday.
Fighters on truck-mounted machine guns opened fire in densely populated neighbourhoods in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital.
Gunfire was also heard in Omdurman, which adjoins Khartoum, and nearby Bahri in the early hours of Sunday morning.
There were also reports of fighting in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan.
A Saudi Arabian airlines plane was damaged by bullets at Khartoum International Airport on Saturday and all major airlines suspended their flights from Sudan.
Video of the incident showed the plane on fire on the tarmac.
Another plane also appeared to have caught fire.
Flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 identified it as a Boeing 737 for SkyUp, a Kyiv, Ukraine-based airline. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Two civilians were reportedly killed at the airport.
The army said jets were hitting RSF bases, and the country’s air force told people to remain in their homes on Saturday night while it conducted a full aerial survey of paramilitary activity.
Amal Mohamed, a doctor in a public hospital in Omdurman, said: “Fire and explosions are everywhere.”
Conflict erupted after months of tension between the military and its partner-turned-rival the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) group.
Generals have been running Sudan since a military coup in October 2021.
By the end of the day on Saturday, the military issued a statement ruling out out negotiations with the RSF, instead calling for the dismantling of what it called a “rebellious militia.”
The head of the paramilitary group, in turn, branded the armed forces chief a “criminal.”
The tough language signalled that the conflict between the former allies, who jointly orchestrated the 2021 coup, was likely to continue.
Diplomats from the US, UN and EU urged both sides to stop fighting.
Arab states with stakes in Sudan — Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — also called for a ceasefire and for both parties to return to negotiations.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he consulted with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“We agreed it was essential for the parties to immediately end hostilities without pre-condition,” he said in a statement early Sunday.
The fighting comes after months of escalating tensions between the commander of Sudan’s miltitary, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the head of the RSF, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.
It also followed years of political unrest since the 2021 coup.
The recent tensions stem from disagreement over how the RSF, headed by Dagalo, should be integrated into the armed forces and what authority should oversee the process.
The merger is a key condition of Sudan’s unsigned transition agreement with political groups.
By Sunday morning at least 56 people had been killed and close to 600 wounded, the Sudan Doctor’s Syndicate said.
